Broken Wings
by LazyMochiPanda
Summary: Lucy tried to erase her presence to avoid trouble but got the opposite. She was dragged into a complicated relationship with one of the many gangs at her new school. Following a ridiculous school life was the expected troubles that came with this relationship. Although Lucy would have ditched like before, she's too far in to back out now: NaLu AU
1. Chapter 1: Fitting In

**Hey guys! This is my first story, hope you enjoy. Please leave me reviews!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own any characters or Fairy Tail; simply the plot development.**

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Run-down, musty, and lifeless. Located in the shadiest part of Magnolia, Lucy approached her new school, a stark contrast to the pompous air she was so accustomed to.

Despite the drastic change in atmosphere, Lucy didn't falter. Her long blonde hair gleamed in the morning sun when she walked among the gray, dusty buildings, immediately catching the attention of her new peers. Her fresh uniform fit tightly over her curvaceous body, earning her a few whistles from a group of guys with torn outfits.

Seemingly unphased, Lucy blankly stared straight ahead of her.

Houndish eyes bore their gaze into her head all the way to the classroom: boys were ecstatic with the appearance of a new female to prey upon, while the girls were jealous of Lucy's doll-like appearance.

Although she managed a poker face, Lucy was a wreck. She made her way to her seat, hoping to comfort herself. She set her belongings down. When the blonde tried to sit, however, a pair of hands quickly grabbed her chair and slid it away from her; along with the noise of the chair's legs scratching the concrete floor, there was a yelp. Startled and irritated, the pain stinging Lucy's rear made her increasingly frustrated. She glared at her attacker, ready to drop the 'stay out of mind and sight plan'. She switched to plan B… which was not prepared, but instead improvised: the 'fuck off, please and thank you, plan'.

"May I help you?" She spat the words out venomously and stood up slowly. But when Lucy made direct eye contact with her perpetrator, she felt herself waver: her large brown eyes met a pair of blood red ones, narrow and intimidating. Above them were… piercings arranged to resemble eyebrows.

"Gihi, looks like this bunny girl is feisty." The boy leaned in closer. Realizing she messed up and instead interested the freak even more, Lucy's face distorted in disgust as the distance between them shortened. Unfortunately, before Lucy could spit in his face, a new boyish voice interrupted.

"Gajeel, leave her alone."

Gajeel leaned back and scowled, letting Lucy observe more of his features. Gajeel was tall and muscular. In addition, his ragged and long raven black hair made him appear even larger. He wore his emotions like a mask; eyebrows furrowed, his mouth along with its bottom piercings pulled into a tight frown as he continued to hold eye contact with whom he called 'bunny girl', "Don't tell me what to do, pussy."

'Pussy' scoffed, "Going after more girls won't increase your chances of getting any."

Lucy broke eye contact with Gajeel to see who intervened. She mentally groaned at the abnormal appearance of the new individual, her hopes that she could befriend a normal person shattering. The transfer student began wondering if anyone here was remotely normal.

'Pussy' wore sunglasses (and yes they were indoors). His bright orange hair was short and unkempt, but suited his promiscuous vibe. He spoke again after looking Lucy up and down. "Don't worry baby," he purred seductively, shoving Gajeel in the face, "I'll protect you."

Lucy felt chills running up her spine at the statement. She had been hit on before, but that was by far one of the cringiest attempts yet. Although the cringe was definitely part of the reason she felt disturbed, she realized they had caught the attention of a majority of the girls in the room, all shooting her death glares.

"No thanks," Lucy deadpans, her eyes lifeless. "I'd rather we never meet again."

Gajeel smirks and mutters under his breath, "I like feisty."

Lucy's hair practically stands on end as she fumes, "Dude, what the fu-"

"What the hell are you guys doing?" A lazy and deep voice drawls.

With the appearance of another troublesome-looking fellow, Lucy sneakily and quickly grabs her chair and sits down while Gajeel and 'pussy' are distracted.

"Gray, I call dibs."

Gray raises an eyebrow, "Loke, the fuck are you talking about?"

The bell rung, dispersing the many conversations that took place, many of them revolving around Lucy's interactions with the three boys. She sighed, finally being able to relax at her desk, "I was saved by the bell…"

She could still feel Gajeel and Loke's gazes, but instead Lucy peeked at Gray. She admitted that Gray was handsome - he definitely fit the bad boy vibe, but not the trashy kind of bad boy like Gajeel. Gray's eyes were dark, and drew her in. His hair was similar to Gajeel's in color, but like Loke's in style. Unlike the unwanted attention she received from the others, Gray peeked at Lucy and moved on.

Slightly surprised but thankful, Lucy made a mental note to keep away from all three of them, wary of the attention she had received upon interacting with them.

Once class had started, Lucy felt more comfortable. This school was not at the same level as her last: the pace and complexity of the lessons were much simpler. Furthermore, her seat was in the back and right next to the open window. She relished in the light breeze that caressed her face and felt herself smile at the slow crawling serenity of the afternoon that rose along with the sun.

Just as the teacher finished writing on the board, the bell rang again, snapping her out of tranquility. Students immediately flooded the hallways, stampeding in one direction towards the cafeteria. Awkwardly staring at the mob, Lucy wondered if she should try to fit in and do the same. But, before she could even make a decision, her chair was aggressively jolted sideways, knocking her onto the floor.

"Fuck! That hurt…" The blonde pushed herself up from the ground. Her forearm and shoulder had taken the brunt of the fall, slowly tinting purple.

"That's what you get for messing with Juvia."

An extremely pale girl with striking blue eyes and blue hair pulled into tight curls at the end towered over Lucy. She reminded Lucy of a rich and entitled bitch from her old school. "Strange," Lucy joked to herself, "I guess I should stay away from girls with curly hair"

An awkward silence filled the air and once again Lucy was the center of attention. "Um…" she mutters, "Who is Juvia?"

"Juvia is Juvia!" she yells, holding a hand to her chest. Lucy was simply dumbfounded.

"Are you referring to yourself in third person?"

"Don't try to sound smart! Juvia knows you're changing the topic!" Juvia's voice rises, and people from the hallways peek into the classroom too. Desperate to escape, Lucy discreetly sobs when she can't see a way out of this bizarre situation.

"Okay, Juvia. I don't know what problem you have with me, but I didn't do anything to you." Lucy attempted to paint herself the victim, which she obviously was. She figured it was impossible to ever revert back to plan A with the increasing amount of people who now knew of her existence. Instead, the best plan was to make people aware that she was not a threat to anyone but also establish herself strongly in order to prevent more bitches from attacking her.

Juvia's eyes narrowed even more, which Lucy dumbly noted impressive, "Don't play innocent! Juvia knows you were seducing Gray, you snake!"

This piqued the attention of many bystanders. More girls got up when Juvia shrieked the ridiculous statement. One of which had glared at Lucy in the morning - she approached the two, and pointed at Lucy accusingly, "She was also making moves on Loke!"

While definitely inappropriate, Lucy couldn't help but notice that no one was upset with Gajeel's interest in her. No wonder Loke called Gajeel out on not being popular with the ladies.

Lucy struggled to counter their remarks. Her classmates were obviously delusional; if they really paid attention then they would have noticed that Lucy wanted nothing to do with the shitheads that wouldn't leave her alone. Any course of action seemed dangerous.

Juvia pounced on Lucy's hesitation, "So Juvia was right! You are a love rival!"

"No! I-" More girls surrounded Lucy.

Lucy thought this had to be staged, why was her first day of school so damn cliche? "I'm not interested in either Loke or Gray."

Lucy looked around to see if she had any sympathetic observers but instead was met with angry eyes. In the back of the crowd, Gajeel's tall and large body stood out. He watched with amusement, a gross grin spreading across his face when they made eye contact.

Seeing Gajeel so pleased ticked Lucy off more than the fact that she was being mobbed by a bunch of obsessive fangirls. She held eye contact with Gajeel, then slowly smirked with a similar nonchalant vibe to his, "I have no interest in Loke or Gray, because after all…"

The girls were skeptical, but they waited for Lucy to finish her testimony. Lucy sharply inhaled, trying to keep her voice steady and body firm.

She stated loudly and (fake) confidently, "I'm dating Gajeel."

Everyone was clearly taken aback by her words. In the back of the room, Gajeel reacted the same, and then broke into a huge smile and creepy gihis.

Well, so much for fitting in at school.


	2. Chapter 2: For The Reputation

**Hey guys :) This update was definitely faster than I expected, but I was really excited to keep working on this story. Shout out to Ushindeshi for leaving a review, it definitely motivated me to work faster! Also, thank you to everyone who favorited and followed Broken Wings uwu**

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_She stated loudly and (fake) confidently, "I'm dating Gajeel."_

_Everyone was clearly taken aback by her words. In the back of the room, Gajeel reacted the same, and then broke into a huge smile and creepy gihis._

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Lucy held her breath, her nerves going haywire. The teen reflected on her impulsive actions, immediately regretting her bold statement.

Clearly, no girls gave a fuck about Gajeel and his sad flirtatious attempts. Therefore, it would be incredibly strange for the new transfer student to take an interest in him, yet she claimed that they were _dating_. They haven't even interacted for a couple hours! Lucy couldn't believe her own stupidity.

The wary blonde examined her audience. She seriously prayed that no one would call her out on her obvious bullshit. Perhaps they would do her a favor and be delusional again?

Juvia was the first to break out of shock, her eyes and mouth open wide like a fish struggling out of water, "No!"

Lucy blinked, "What?"

Juvia's face became normal again, normal meaning angry, "Love rival can't date Gajeel! Gajeel is an important friend to Juvia!"

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

In her peripheral vision, Gajeel was slowly making way to the two girls with his arms crossed. Eyes gleaming with delight and a snobby smirk, he held his head high as the crowd made way for him.

"Gihi, Juvia won't you leave bunny girl here alone?"

Juvia turned to Gajeel in disbelief, "Gajeel, she isn't serious right? You wouldn't be so desperate as to stoop to her level?"

Lucy's jaw dropped. She could not believe Juvia just said she was inferior to Gajeel, "Excuse me? Aren't you calling me 'love rival' because you feel threatened that Gray likes me? But you say I'm not worth much? Then I guess you're saying Gray has really low standards."

Juvia tries to interject but Lucy presses on, "Yet you can't even meet his low standards."

The livid Gray fan raises her hand out of fury. Lucy flinches and shuts her eyes, but the blow she expected never came.

She opens her eyes to see that Gajeel has grabbed Juvia's hand and that they were currently glaring at each other.

"Juvia, I said to leave bunny girl alone."

Murmurs broke out among the crowd, the common remark being "I guess it's true" and "I can't believe Gajeel and Juvia fought over that new girl."

Juvia yanked her hand out of Gajeel's grasp and pushed her way out of the crowd. Gajeel sighed as he watched her leave the classroom in a rush, before turning back to face Lucy.

"Actually, this morning, I did see the new girl pucker her lips when Gajeel and her first met…" Lucy glared at the owner of this statement; her cold look made the onlookers flinch. _"Actually, I was about to spit on him."_

The man in question beamed, "Gihi! Well, bunny girl? I think we need to talk."

Lucy held her bruised arm and avoided eye contact. She was incredibly uncomfortable with the predicament she was caught in. Unable to think of any excuses, she looks up at Gajeel, but when he opens his mouth to speak the bell rings.

No one wanted to move; everyone was eager to watch how the situation would play out. The next teacher broke the tense air with a loud and tired voice, "Guys, I know the new transfer student is hot, okay? But please, sit down. Also, Gajeel, please stop making moves on every girl you see."

"Mr. Macao!" shouted a student.

The teacher set his books down, "Yes?"

"They're actually dating."

Macao looked up at Gajeel, then to Lucy, before awkwardly coughing and muttering, "Damn, the bastard actually did it."

Lucy didn't know what she was more bothered by: the teacher calling her hot or her classmate announcing her new relationship.

After a couple more classes, the final bell rang. Students immediately began chattering rambunctiously as the last teacher screamed at everyone, "The bell does NOT dismiss you, I d-"

Regardless, students poured out of the classroom, completely ignoring the teacher's last sex ed lectures about practicing abstinence. Getting up from her seat and hissing at the pain in her arm, Lucy slowly approached Gajeel, "Hey… can I talk to you?"

Gajeel snorts, "I wonder about what."

Lucy scrunches her nose in distaste at his sassy attitude but deals with it since she put them both in this mess.

Once they left the main entrance, Gajeel led Lucy around the building to the school's yard. Weeds grew out of the worn out sidewalk and overgrown bushes and trees made it difficult to keep on the path. Although poorly managed, Lucy was impressed that the school even held this much property.

Lucy suspiciously eyed the large raven haired male leading the way, "Gajeel, this is hellah sus."

Lucy swore she saw Gajeel's thick black hair bristle before he snorted, "Wow, I didn't know you were capable of such language. Well, I'm sorry, princess. I didn't know you were scared of a high school yard." Lucy tried to object, but he cut her off, "Don't worry. I'm just taking you to a secret hide-out."

That did not make Lucy feel better.

They reached the back of the school, where the walls were decaying and the windows were shattered. The fence in the back was so old, much of it had disappeared, leaving giant spaces between the small groups of fencing left.

Lucy watched as Gajeel walked through an empty space between a pair of fences and hurriedly followed after, "Gajeel, I don't know why I'm trusting you, but this better not be some twisted kidnapping."

"You're clearly not trusting me if you even question that I might kidnap you." Gajeel finally looks back at Lucy, "We're here."

In front of Gajeel is a worn out wooden shed. Before commenting on its shabby appearance, Gray busts open the door half naked. Lucy stammers in a flustered rush, "Gajeel, why did you bring me to a shitty shack with a half naked man inside of it." She snaps at him, "This is not funny."

"Huh?" Gray looks down at himself, before freaking out and closing the door again. He emerges once more with his school uniform properly worn, shouting in frustration, "Gajeel, what are you doing bringing an outsider here?!"

Lucy stared at him cautiously, "Is your hobby undressing?"

Gajeel deadpans with slight amusement, "I can confirm that." Gray scowled. "Also, our hide-out is not shitty, bunny girl. If you wanna keep dating this hunk," Gajeel pointed at himself, "then you better start loving her." He pointed at the decaying structure.

Lucy lowers her guard after noting the two are idiots, "I'm sorry. I've had a rough first day, so I'm a little paranoid." She looks at an oblivious Gray before looking at Gajeel, "Also, you're just not a hunk."

"But I am, right?" The three of them spin around to see Loke.

"Can it, whiskers, cuz' I'm the one who got the new prey you were after." Gajeel wraps his arm around Lucy's shoulders. She squeaked and pushed Gajeel away. Although Lucy definitely just rejected Gajeel's skinship, Loke was slightly peeved.

"Gajeel, thanks so much for the wonderful hide-out sightseeing, but can we just talk already?" The blonde exasperated.

Gajeel looked over at Loke and Gray, "You guys stay out here while I chat with bunny girl for a bit."

Gray and Loke looked at each other in disbelief. Loke protested, "What do you think you're going to do to Lucy while you two are alone in the hide-out?"

Lucy shievered at the unpleasant thought. Gray scoffed, "Just let them fuck and she'll leave."

Gray's statement made Loke gasp, but just as Loke tried to grab Lucy, Gajeel had already pushed Lucy inside the shed and locked the door behind him.

"So," Gajeel's eyes gleamed, "What do you need to talk about?"

Lucy cut to the chase, "I'm sorry for announcing that we're dating."

He responded coolly, "Heh, I don't really care. But is that all you're going to say?"

"No, it's not." Lucy paused, taking a moment to confirm her thoughts, "Can we actually keep this gig up?"

Gajeel's jaw dropped, "Wait, what?"

Lucy nervously played with her hands, "It's not like I'm into you, don't misunderstand. It' s just that, I really don't want to deal with those girls attacking me again."

Gajeel was quiet for a couple seconds, but he appeared… pleased?

Keen on Gajeel's suspicious joy, Lucy said in a firm voice, "We will not do anything romantic or sexual with each other."

"Who said I'd want to?"

The raven-haired boy caught her off guard with that statement. "But bunny girl, why should I help you?"

Lucy hesitated; she had thought about that on the way to his worn out shack. Why should Gajeel help her? He in no way benefits from this.

Lucy quickly came up with an answer, "You'll finally be able to stop getting made fun of for not being able to get any girls. You made quite the reputation of yourself, failing miserably at catching any fish." Lucy grew more confident seeing Gajeel triggered, "But!"

"Now, you can say you caught the heart of the transfer student, which everyone had their eyes on. And, only in a couple of hours too."

Gajeel laughed boorishly, "Quite the confident one, aren't cha?"

Lucy scoffed, "Are you kidding me? A couple of dudes catcalled me as soon as I stepped foot onto school property. I'm aware that I'm not butt ugly at least."

Gajeel's signature smirk came back, "You have a deal bunny girl."

Lucy smiled mischievously, "It actually benefits me that you're no one's ideal type; I won't get attacked for dating you at least."

Gajeel's smirk fell, "Bitch."

Lucy laughed before seriously stating, "One, don't call me bunny girl. Calling your girlfriend bunny girl is weird. Two, this is purely for show. Don't get it in your head that this will ever turn into anything more. We're both doing it for reputation sake."

Gajeel scowled, "Stop yapping would you? I'm not a retard." Gajeel peeked outside at Gray and Loke, who were caught up in their own conversation a couple yards away from the shed. "I have one condition. Don't let anyone know that our relationship is fake and I won't either." Gajeel made eye contact with Lucy, sending chills down her spine over how serious the atmosphere suddenly became, "No one can know, bunny girl. Got it?"

Confused and curious, Lucy couldn't help but ask, "I'm fine with obliging by that, there's no one I would tell anyway, but why are you so hung up on that?"

Gajeel looked at the ground, "It's not like I was trying to get a girl so hard just for shits and giggles. I have reasons too." Gajeel roughly pat Lucy's head, enjoying making it a mess, "This actually works better for me. I didn't want to deal with babying some normal bitch anyway." Gajeel looked down at Lucy, "Gihi, I'd much rather baby a feisty bitch."

Lucy slapped Gajeel's hand away in disdain. Although he did well in brushing it off, it was obvious there was some heavy weight to Gajeel's words. She noted that it probably wasn't wise to involve herself too deeply with him or his friends once this all blew over.

Gajeel opened the door, swinging it open aggressively on a single squeaky hinge, "You shitheads can come back."

Gray and Loke rushed into the shed. Gray dove inside, immediately complaining about the heat while Loke grabbed both of Lucy's hands and leaned close, "Lucy dear, why date Gajeel? I'm a much better choice."

Lucy quickly pulled away, shaken by the thought that angry Loke fans would hunt her down, "No thanks… Gajeel's great for me." Lucy glanced at Gajeel's triumphant face, "Now that we've worked everything out, I'm looking forward to seeing you again," Lucy purred, "honeypie."

Gajeel cringed while Loke gaped in jealousy, "What did you just call me?"

Lucy giggled as she made her way to the entrance of the shed, "Bye, honeypie!"

Gray faked a puke before noticing someone outside, "Gross, it's flamebrain."

Lucy looked at Gray with a raised eyebrow, "What kind of nickname is that?"

All three of the boys snorted and said at the same time, "A fitting one."

Lucy shrugged and reached for the doorknob, but instead the door ended up meeting her face and knocking her down. The top piece of wood chipped off as it bashed into her forehead.

"OW! What the…"

Lucy looked up and made eye contact with a new face, who Lucy presumed to be 'flamebrain'. They both stared at each other wide-eyed. 'Flamebrain' had fluffy pink locks and large dark eyes that drew her in like Grays. And, despite the fact that he didn't apologize after slamming a door in her face, Lucy had to admit that his ruggish features made him fairly handsome.

Loke shouted at Gajeel in disbelief, "Gajeel, are you seriously just leaving your girlfriend injured on the ground?"

Gajeel spat in Loke's direction before throwing Lucy over his back like it was nothing, startling both her and 'flamebrain'.

The pinkette shouted and pointed his finger directly in Lucy's face, "Gajeel's… girlfriend!?"

Lucy forced a smile at his rudeness, "Nice to meet you, 'flamebrain'." 'Flamebrain' gaped at her.

The blonde blushed when she felt the wind on her bare legs, "Gajeel, oh my god! Put me down. I'm wearing a skirt."

Gajeel snorted, "No. It's easier this way. Also, I need to exercise. You're heavy." He sneered, "Great for weightlifting."

Lucy began beating hard on Gajeel's back, then winced at how hard it was. She made eye contact once again with the new face, and they both awkwardly stared at each other, until Loke shouted, "Natsu get in here! I can't believe Gajeel got to her before me. I have to talk to you about this!"

Gajeel continued to romantically walk Lucy back to the entrance of the school.

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**Wow that chapter was much longer than I anticipated, but I actually planned for more stuff to happen till I realized how long it was. I hope you guys enjoyed this! I can really feel the plot picking up more, and I'm excited to see it unfold.**

**Forgive me if there are any grammar mistakes or typos, I pulled an all-nighter writing this since I was so excited.**

**Please review! I love to hear my reader's thoughts :)**


	3. Chapter 3: A New Bluenette

**Hi guys! I'm here again, with another really fast update. I'm more into this story than I thought I'd be; soon, I won't be able to pay attention to this story so I'd like to get as much content out there as possible. With the way I have things planned, this fanfic will definitely be very very long... but I guess that means more to look forward to right :)**

**Thank you to the viewers who left me a review! I'm glad you are enjoying my ideas, it helps me keep going. Also, to clarify, yes this will be a NaLu story.**

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The next day at school, Lucy had even more attention than before. There was no catcalling but instead wary stares from afar.

'Gajeel's girl' was now infamous; she was described as having medium length blonde hair, large brown eyes, and a heart shaped face. However, despite her pretty features, she had a serious case of RBF. Also, she was somehow able to make the school uniform - a white button up and black knee-length skirt - look scandalous with her body figure.

Girls had to watch out for their boyfriends getting snatched by her: apparently upon her first day, the 'blonde bimbo' (which many of her peers refer to her as) managed to catch not only Gajeel's attention, but Gray and Loke's as well. Guys were likewise paranoid, because messing with Gajeel's girl was taboo unless they were looking for a beating by his metal bat.

These were few of the many rumors being spread about Lucy currently and by far some of the better ones being said about her.

She snorted when remembering plan A; she ended up taking the complete opposite route. Her school life didn't seem to be doing so hot.

The first half of the day passed by with Lucy unbothered by the attention. Her habit of staring out the window during lectures was apparently the reason for her 'bimbo' nickname. The blonde internally laughed at the irony of it: she dazed off because she already learned everything, but her desk neighbors would whisper about how "she dozes off since she can't understand".

The bad mouthing wasn't what got to Lucy; she deeply missed having someone she could rely on. Girls were actively avoiding Lucy at all costs, so if she were to make a friend it'd probably be… she looked over at her supposed boyfriend, who was now picking a fight with another group of guys, "Yeah, nevermind."

When the bell rang for lunch, Lucy got up to follow the crowd this time. Gajeel made his way over to her. Not too sure whether she wanted to be with him or not, she decided it was better than being alone.

"Gihi, wassup bunny girl?"

Lucy shot him a glare, "What did I say about calling me that?"

Gajeel shrugged, "What else am I supposed to call you? My bitch?"

"I didn't realize your vocabulary was so limited you couldn't memorize my name," Lucy gave Gajeel a pitiful look, "I'm sorry honeypie, I'll make sure to remember that next time I try to talk to you."

Many heads turned towards the duo after Lucy called Gajeel 'honeypie', "No way… she just called Gajeel a pet name…"

"Dude, she's his girlfriend. If she wasn't some kind of amazon woman there's no way she'd be able to date him."

Lucy looked at Gajeel in confusion, "Why are they so surprised that I can talk to you like a normal person?"

"Are you serious?" Gajeel asked incredulous, "Which should I tell you about? How calling someone honeypie isn't normal or how stupid you sound right now for not realizing how amazing I am?"

Lucy's brown eyes dulled, "You just said both, so I guess that solves your problem." She quickened her pace towards the cafeteria, "Let's talk more when I have food in front of me, I'm starving."

Sitting down at a rusty picnic bench outside, the couple found themselves without much company, "You don't have any friends?"

Gajeel briefly looked up before devouring his sandwich and the aluminum foil it was contained in, "As if you have any yourself."

"Ouch." Lucy responded monotone before poking at her half-cooked slice of pizza, "Is cafeteria food usually this bad?"

Gajeel's loud munching filled the air, "What, you didn't try it out yesterday?"

Lucy rose an eyebrow, "Why of course I did; it wasn't like I was totally getting beat up by your bestie, Juvia."

Gajeel burped right in Lucy's face, the air that escaped his throat slightly parting her hair, "Juvia's heavily misunderstood."

"And I'm not?"

Gajeel sipped his drink, "I mean, all the rumors I've heard about you have been pretty accurate." Before Lucy could give him a sassy retort, Gajeel's phone beeped. Without even glancing at the message, he got up to leave, "Sorry, Lulu, but I have to go."

"Who the fuck is Lulu?"

Gajeel flashed her a smirk, snatched her much undesired slice of pizza (she mentally breathed a sigh of relief), and ran away. Lucy watched him head off towards the back of the school, "But class is starting in like ten minutes…"

"He always skips in the early afternoon."

Lucy jumped at the high-pitched voice that suddenly appeared behind her. She whipped around to see a petite, adorable girl with shoulder-length wavy blue hair. She had a light yellow ribbon tied around her thick locks, and her school uniform was baggy on her small frame.

Lucy slightly tensed; so far she did not have very nice interactions with women in this area, especially the blue-haired ones.

The bluenette smiled gently, and let go of a book in one hand to stretch out the other towards Lucy for a handshake, "Sorry to startle you, my name's Levy."

Lucy's heart warmed upon Levy's gentle demeanor. She reciprocated the handshake, "Hi! My name's Lucy," the blonde blushed, "Actually, you probably know because of all the rumors, right?" she awkwardly laughed.

Levy gingerly sat down next to Lucy, "You certainly are the talk of the school right now." She looked towards the direction Gajeel ran off, "Especially after dating him."

Lucy felt anxious and excited at the possibility of befriending Levy, "Yeah…" Lucy facepalmed when the conversation died immediately after she spoke.

Levy spoke again, sensing Lucy's nervousness, "I bet Gajeel's happy with all the attention he's receiving though. He's been desperate for a girlfriend for almost a year now."

Lucy didn't know if she wanted to hear more about Gajeel. She had decided to stay away from him and his gang as much as possible, but being in complete oblivion probably wasn't a wise choice either. "Whatever," she thought, "I want to talk to Levy more."

Lucy inquired further, "Why was he so desperate?"

Levy looked down, slightly solemn, "I'm not too sure why either," her voice grew quieter, "I thought I knew almost everything about him, haha…"

The bluenette blushed and became flustered; she quickly looked up at Lucy and shot her a bright smile, completely blowing away the little gloom from before, "But who cares about him? I want to know more about you, Lucy!"

Lucy felt relieved, but before she let herself celebrate, she softly asked, "But, why would you want to talk to me when there's so much bad stuff that happens around me?"

Levy laughed adorably, "Trust me. I've been in a lot of trouble myself." Levy smirked slightly, which Lucy found oddly resemblance of Gajeel's, "Also, I was there when Juvia called you out yesterday in the classroom. I know that what everyone is saying about you is bullshit."

Lucy blinked in surprise. Levy continued, "To be honest I was too intimidated at first to approach you, but after the fiasco that happened yesterday, I felt a little at fault. If I had talked to you first maybe you wouldn't have gotten dragged into such a big mess."

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A few days had passed, and the blonde and bluenette grew very close in a short period of time. They discovered that they were both bookworms. Being fans of both writing and reading, it turns out that they both also used reading glasses to compensate for their poor eyesight after straining many nights to read their favorite works. It was these silly similarities that managed to strengthen their relationship.

Levy also turned out to be the top student in their grade, so Lucy enjoyed doing schoolwork with her. Eventually, Levy even introduced Lucy to her other friends: Laki, Cana, and Mirajane.

At first, Laki was suspicious of Lucy, and Cana didn't care for the newbie's presence. Mirajane, on the other hand, was very interested in her right off the bat, and Lucy couldn't say that she hadn't immediately grew fond of the older and beautiful blue-eyed and white haired girl.

While Levy had two other friends, Jet and Droy, they were very unwilling to meet the blonde despite Levy's protests. Lucy assured Levy that it was for the best anyway; it seemed Lucy wouldn't be meeting any willing guys for a while because of Gajeel.

Lucy later learned that Levy was actually Gajeel's childhood friend, which explained their interesting first meeting. Thus, once it was obvious Lucy and Levy got along very well, everyone firmly believed that Gajeel and Lucy were officially dating since his childhood friend even approved. In addition, Lucy indirectly learned more about her boyfriend through her best friend.

"Does Gajeel have this friend who has weird pink hair?"

Levy's eyes widened, surprised by Lucy's sudden question, "Do you mean Natsu?"

Lucy nodded, "I think so? I only heard Loke say his name once, so I'm not too sure. They called him flamebrain though."

Levy giggled, "That's definitely Natsu. Why?"

Lucy shrugged, "I never see him. Even though I see Gray and Loke all the time."

The bluenette hummed in response, "Natsu is pretty active around the boys. He doesn't like girls though."

Lucy asked innocently, "As in he's homosexual?"

Levy smiled a bit, "Uh, I doubt that but possibly? I'm pretty sure Natsu just doesn't like girls…" Levy tapped her pencil on her bottom lip and furrowed her brows, "That's odd. I'm pretty sure he's straight…"

"What about Gajeel?"

Levy lowered her pencil, "What do you mean? Aren't you dating him?"

Lucy laughed awkwardly, trying to cover her mistake, "Yeah, he just doesn't really show interest in me, so I just wondered."

Levy started writing the conclusion for their partner project, "Don't worry, Gajeel doesn't show interest in anyone. Except for you, when you first appeared."

Lucy snorted in response, wanting to reveal that she didn't give a damn about her 'boyfriend', "That doesn't really mean anything. So did a lot of other guys."

The petite bookworm looked up and wriggled her eyebrows, "Okay, Lucy~ Getting all them guys~"

The blonde blushed, "NO! That's not what I meant!"

Levy sighed wearily, "That's why I can't get anyone, 'cause you're taking them all." She began fake crying.

"Shut up Levy! You're adorable. Also, Jet and Droy definitely like you and you know it."

Levy stopped acting and rolled her eyes, "I rejected both of them." Lucy nodded without disagreement. She could see why. The bluenette then looked down so Lucy couldn't see her face, checking their essay one last time, "There is someone I'm interested in, but they're taken."

Lucy sat up straight in her chair, "Oh my god. Tell me more."

Levy cringed away from Lucy, her red face deeply contrasting her bright blue hair, "No… besides, I don't stand a chance against her."

Lucy and Levy awkwardly stared at each other before Levy sheepishly broke eye contact. The bell rang and Levy got up to turn in their paper. Lucy waited for her at the door, and they walked home together without much discussion of Levy's crush afterwards.

Regardless of the lack of information, Lucy could already tell Levy crushed on her childhood friend, Gajeel. In other words, her best friend liked her boyfriend. Fuck.

* * *

**This update was pretty fast actually, I hope? I wanted to release this chapter faster, but I had difficulty developing the latter half. I actually wanted to write even more in this chapter too, but there are already 2,000 words, and with the amount I wanted to add it would probably be 3,000 words more. I felt it'd be better to update this part first, instead.**

**The story is currently in the awkward slow rising action phase, I promise there is much more waiting down the road! Please leave a review, they really help me speed up the writing process!**


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